Shop

The shop is a 650 sq ft newly built mini barn. In 2005 I insulated the walls and ceiling and installed a direct-venting propane heater.

The upper level is used for storage.

Saw/Shaper/Jointer/Planer

The workhorse powertool of the shop is the CF741 Felder combination machine. This Austrian beauty is powerful precise and can run all day. Learning to use the slider takes time but it's much safer than a standard Unisaw where you are behind the blade.

This model has a 16" jointer/planer. You can also get the same unit as two separate pieces with the j/p by itself. If I had to get this again I would buy it as a separate saw/shaper and j/p so I wouldn't have to keep moving the fence on and off. Also the power lift for the planer bed is a real time-saver and I should have gotten that too.

Workbench

My new workbench. Maple and beech with Lie-Nielsen vise hardware. Linseed oil. 84"w x 28"d x 35"h.

If I had to build one over again (unlikely) I would probably build the entire top from beech. The 10/4 maple twisted a lot when I ripped it to length and I wound up with a slightly less that 2" thick top. Using 4/4 beech would mean more glue-ups but it's half the cost over maple.

The tail vise was particularly tricky. This bench was built from plans I had purchased 20 years earlier. Of course the tail vise in the plan did not match the L-N and I had to slowly improvise. The tail vise is built from over 20 peices of beech.

Fun and Sometimes Hard

I'm lucky to be able to imagine something made of wood and then build it.